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An e-mail I just received at work, from the boy:

How is your morning going, pretty girl? I'm exhausted, for some reason.
I was in a half-sleep for most of the train ride. Dreamt about colliding
particles and stuff. Really odd.

I have discovered something dangerous. While watching the Red Sox game this evening, I did a little surfing, which lead me to my checkbook's worst nightmare. I know I'm going to sound old school, but I've never really bothered looking around E-bay that much. Until tonight. You see, I've been really into vintage stuff, and I want to start collecting some odds and ends for our non-existing house that hasn't happened yet. (Girls, you see my logic. Right?) Anyway, I found this, and I'm totally wanting to bid. Is it not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen? My dad used to collect antique clocks, and I guess there's part of me who wants to take after his little addiction. It's decently priced, but I'm a little nervous to take the plunge.

It's 8am and I'm irritated. It's too early in the morning to be irritated. Here's the scoop:

Good ol' birth control runs out in a week. I can't see my wimmin doctor until Nov. 19th. I was told to leave a message with the advice nurse, and they can call in a prescription for me to cover me until my appointment. Pretty simple concept, right? Well, apparently, between 8am-4:45pm is the only time you can call and speak with someone. This doesn't work out for me. I called after hours, and I'm told rather rudely that leaving a voicemail for the advice nurse after hours would indicate that I have an emergency, and well, I certainly don't. An emergency? Wow. I can see it now: *ring*ring*.. “Please leave a message after the tone: “OH SON OF A BITCH MY LEG'S CUT OFF AT THE KNEE! HELLO?!?!? I THINK I JUST HEARD IT BEEP, HONE-… HELLO??!?!?”

Yeah. So I just tried calling at 8am, since I'm still home, and guess what. They haven't begun answering their phones for the day. Argh. Oh well. Starbucks will make it all go away…

The north shore was beautiful today; bright blue sky and crisp cool air. Matt and I went to visit Gabe and Tracy at their new condo. Congrats to them on their first home purchase! It is a gorgeous home - hardwoods througout, Victorian-style.. Mrowr. Exactly what I want when I purchase my home. The photo on this post is one I took at the beach - about ten seconds' walk from Gabe and Tracy's back door. I'm now officially jealous.

I've really been into vintage stuff as of late. I keep mental notes on what I want my place to look like once we purchase our home. I was a bit afraid of ways to mix modern and vintage together to make both Matt and I happy, and I think I've got some neat ideas. Now I just need that beautiful Victorian…

Today was definitely better than yesterday. At 2pm this afternoon, I, along with two other coworkers, got the pleasure of having a meeting with our regional director regarding our horrible training class we had upon first entering into the underwriting department. Oh, I let loose. Three months of frustration, and it felt great. The regional director looked at me wide-eyed, shaking her head in disbelief, as she scribbled notes furiously. I hope Bret-the-Bastard loses his job once and for all.

Now. On to more important things: Who the hell is Babu Stevens? I wish I knew. I'm assuming he had our phone number before we acquired it, because every night around 9pm we get a phone call from a man with a thick Indian accent asking for my man, Babu. But it doesn't just stop there. Collection calls, once in awhile, telemarketing calls, calls from overseas. At one point, Matt talked to a collections agent who didn't believe Matt wasn't Babu Stevens! I think Mr. Stevens freely gives out our number as if it was his. Perhaps tomorrow night at 9pm when my phone rings, I'm not even going to give a greeting. I'll simply hit “talk” and launch into how I enjoy rolling around in my snowsuit filled with ejaculate. I love to leave 'em wide eyed and speechless. And, if I'm lucky, they won't call anymore.

Today was sheer insanity. My phone never stopped. My voicemail light never stopped blinking. Things just piled up to the point of wanting to drop everything and walk out the tinted glass door to freedom. Amongst this madness today, however, were a couple of things. One being a meeting, in which I walked away thoroughly disgusted. Two of the topics discussed were what our group was going to do for Halloween. It had been decided the Grease theme would be our thing, and girls were to wear poodle skirts. Uh, sorry. I don't do poodle skirts. Especially not at work. Sorry to be a party pooper, and it might be that I'd have different thoughts had it been in a more proper environment, like a Halloween party with friends, etc, but not at work. No go on the dog skirt. The other subject brought up was United Way. A few days ago, we sat through an hour long meeting and heard about the cause. (Yes, I gave.) Long story short, a girl in my group was made to feel guilty because she didn't donate. I don't think that's right. Needless to say, by 9am, my day was pretty much shot.

A few other things transpired, though. Starbucks screwed up my morning sanity, Mariano's screwed up my sandwich at lunch, and then, at some point between advising a branch manager that it was indeed my job to pick and choose which creditors should be paid off and trying desperately to find my favourite pen, I receive this e-mail:

Subject: CAR JACKERS NEW SCHEME

Be aware of new car-jacking scheme Imagine: You walk across the parking
lot, unlock your car and get inside. Then you lock all your doors, start
the engine and shift into REVERSE, and you look into the rearview mirror to
back out of your parking space and you notice a piece of paper stuck to the
middle of the rear window. So, you shift into PARK, unlock your doors and
jump out of your car to remove that paper (or whatever it is) that is
obstructing your view… When you reach the back of your car, that is when
the car-jackers appear out of nowhere, jump into your car and take off!!

Your engine was running, (ladies would have their purse in the car) and
they practically mow you down as they speed off in your car.
BE AWARE OF THIS NEW SCHEME THAT IS NOW BEING USED.

Just drive away and remove the paper that is stuck to your window later,
and be thankful that you read this email. I hope you will forward this to
friends and family…especially to women! A purse contains all
identification, and you certainly do NOT want someone getting your home
address. They already HAVE your keys!

K. I think someone missed the THIS IS A HOAX! bus. The best part was, this was sent out by a semi-big wig. Oh, yeah. This wasn't an “Oh no! I'd better tell my friends about this!” situation. This was a mass e-mail that went out to the entire underwriting department, because, you know, it's a “real threat.” All I could do was sigh, then giggle, shake my head, and forward it on to Matt, where we giggled heartily.

On a brighter note, I dropped three and a half pounds over the last week. Off to a good start!

Apparently, Chris' TV hates him.

Clickclick. Sunday afternoon channel surfing. Football, fishing, some baseball, football, football, food. Wait. Food. One of my favourite topics. To be more specific, it was a Food Network program focusing on low-carb dieting. To be even more specific, they were fixing salmon with two different kinds of cheese that acted as stuffing, to create a salmon “sandwich”. We're not talking just a little bit of cheese - we're talking about two inches of melted gooey deliciousness that both made me salivate, not to mention the fact I felt my arteries clogging at the mere sight of this thing. I have to admit - I don't know if I buy into the low-carb craze.

One of the reasons I like WW is because it allows me the freedom in choosing from a massive variety of foods. It would seem that a lot of the low carb diet involves a decent amount of cheese, eggs, nuts, meats, and veggies. The problem is, a lot of those foods I listed, aside from veggies, are high in cholesterol. I'm wondering if, twenty years down the road, there's going to be this enormous amount of people that have ridiculous heart problems because of the low-carb diet.

I don't know if carbs are necessarily the problem of the obese trend we've got going on. Truth is, the whole fat epidemic's only become a huge (haha) problem over the last twenty years or so. If carbs were truly the issue, we'd have a lot of fatass Asians and Italians running around. I don't know about you, but I don't think I've ever seen an obese person from Asian descent.

I think the problem lies within how food is viewed, overall. Food is meant to be used as a survival tactic. That definition is probably a bit arcane, as we all turn to food for comfort, to celebrate, to prevent boredom, hell - even when someone dies, we're stuffing our faces. Portion sizes at restaurants are getting ridiculous. It's pretty sad that the normal portion one is supposed to consume is maybe 1/3 of what is sat in front of you on that pretty white plate. Even things that seem healthy are usually just as bad as sucking down grease through a straw. Matt and I used to frequent Panera Bread, a restaurant that focuses mainly on their breads, salads, soups, and sandwiches. One of my favourite sandwiches there, is the portobello and mozarella panini. The restaurant describes this sandwich as, “Garlic roasted portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, fresh mozzarella and chopped basil, grilled hot on our Rosemary & Onion focaccia.” Doesn't sound like too big of a deal, right? Guess how many calories this sandwich alone has. Just take a stab. It's just mushroom, some herbs, and a little cheese. That's it. Try 670 calories. 1020mg of sodium. I seriously used to think that by eating this sandwich, I was cutting back. And we wonder what's happening to our asses.

The thing is, we can prevent a lot of these things on our own. Instead of buying a lot of pre-packaged things, which is where a lot of the crap you can prevent comes from, make food at home. Include more veggies in your diet. Eat a little pasta if you want it. Maybe take a fifteen minute walk each day. All these things will help you, and me, of course. Carbs aren't the problem. Perhaps our laziness and ignorance is.